Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator equipped with a storage container, wherein the storage container includes a container body, a cover slidably laid on the container body to partially cover the top of the container body, rack gears respectively provided at the cover and the container body, and a pinion engaged between the rack gears, to rotate in accordance with a movement of the rack gear provided at the container body to move the rack gear provided at the cover in a direction opposite to that of the rack gear provided at the container body, such that the cover is rearwardly moved when the container body is forwardly moved to be opened, thereby increasing an opened degree of the container body.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2004-684, filed on Jan. 6, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and, more particularly,to a structure of a storage container equipped in a refrigerator whichis capable of increasing an opened degree of the storage containerobtained in accordance with an opening operation of the storagecontainer.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, refrigerators store various foods at a low temperature in afresh state in freezing and refrigerating compartments defined in arefrigerator body by circulating cold air in the freezing andrefrigerating compartments. In the freezing compartment, food (such asmeat or ice cream), to be maintained at a temperature not higher than afreezing temperature thereof, are stored. On the other hand, food (suchas vegetables or beverages), to be maintained at a temperature slightlyhigher than the freezing temperature thereof, are stored in therefrigerating compartment.

With increased consumption of frozen foods and current busy life styles,people have an increased tendency to purchase large amounts of food atonce so as to consume the food in small portions after storing the food.In pace with such a tendency, recently-developed refrigerators have atendency to have an increased size. In accordance with this tendency,use of double swing door type refrigerators has increased. Also, therecent tendency of storage containers to be equipped in refrigeratorshas led to an increase in size of refrigerators.

Such storage containers equipped in refrigerators may be used forvarious purposes, and may be mounted to any portion of the refrigerator.However, such storage containers are mainly mounted to a lower portionof the refrigerator to store vegetables and fruits. Where a storagecontainer, equipped in a large-size refrigerator, has a large size inaccordance with the large size of the refrigerator, there is a problemin that the storage container may be incompletely opened even in acompletely opened state of a door of the refrigerator because the doorof the refrigerator interferes with the opening operation thereof. Forthis reason, although the storage container has a large size, there is aproblem in that placing food, having a large size, into the storagecontainer through an access opening provided at the storage container isdifficult because the access opening of the storage container is narrow.Furthermore, removing food stored in a rear inner portion of the storagecontainer is difficult.

Also, even where food is small, placing the small food into the storagecontainer and taking the food out of the storage container may bedifficult, even though the food has a small size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an aspect of the invention provides a refrigerator includinga storage container in which a cover to cover a container body is movedwhen the container body is moved to be opened, so that the opened degreeof the storage container is increased.

According to an aspect of the invention, the storage container of therefrigerator comprises a container body, and a cover slidably laid onthe container body to partially cover the top of the container body. Thestorage container further comprises rack gears respectively provided atthe cover and the container body, and a pinion, engaged between the rackgears, to be rotated in accordance with a movement of the rack gearprovided at the container body, thereby moving the rack gear provided atthe cover in a direction opposite to that of the rack gear provided atthe container body, whereby the cover is rearwardly moved when thecontainer body is forwardly moved to be opened, to increase an openeddegree of the container body.

According to an aspect of the invention, the pinion may be rotatablymounted to a fixed shaft.

According to an aspect of the invention, the cover may be provided witha groove. The refrigerator may further comprise a guide member, slidablyfitted in the groove, to guide the movement of the cover.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the storagecontainer of the refrigerator comprises a container body, a coverslidably laid on the container body to cover a front top portion of thecontainer body, and a humidity control member fixedly mounted to coverat least a top portion of the container body not covered by the cover.The refrigerator further comprises a moving unit, to move the cover in adirection opposite to that of the container body, whereby the cover isrearwardly moved when the container body is forwardly moved to be openedin response to a movement of the container body to increase an openeddegree of the container body.

According to an aspect of the invention, the moving unit to move thecover may comprise rack gears respectively connected to the cover andthe container body while being slidably supported by the humiditycontrol member, and a pinion, engaged between the rack gears, to berotated in accordance with a movement of the rack gear connected to thecontainer body to move the rack gear connected to the cover in adirection opposite to that of the rack gear connected to the containerbody.

According to an aspect of the invention, the pinion may be rotatablymounted to the humidity control member.

According to an aspect of the invention, the rack gear mounted to thecontainer body may be separably mounted to a rear end of the containerbody by a connecting member extending vertically through the humiditycontrol member.

According to an aspect of the invention, the humidity control member maybe provided with a slot to receive the connecting member to allow theconnecting member to move therealong during the movement of thecontainer body.

Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will beset forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will beobvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to anaspect of the present invention the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating closed states of storagecontainers according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating opened states of the storagecontainers according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating closed states of storagecontainers according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating opened states of the storagecontainers according to the embodiment of the present invention shown inFIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the presentinvention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator 1 according toan embodiment of the present invention. The refrigerator 1 includes arectangular box-shaped housing 10, and doors 20 to open and closeopenings defined at the housing 10, respectively. Refrigerating andfreezing compartments are defined in the housing 10. Storage containers12, 30 may be slidably mounted in the refrigerating and freezingcompartments. A handle 21 is attached to each door 20 in order to assista user to open and close the door 20.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the twostorage containers 12 and 30 are mounted in a lower portion of therefrigerating compartment in a vertically arranged state. Of course,according to aspects of the invention, these storage containers may bemounted in the freezing compartment, and can be disposed elsewhere inthe compartment. Further, additional or fewer containers could be usedand could have other non-horizontal orientations.

The shown storage containers 12 and 30 have a rectangular box structureopened at the top thereof, but can also have other shapes. Each of thestorage containers 12 and 30 has a width equal to or slightly smallerthan the width of a corresponding portion of the housing 10 so that thestorage containers 12 and 30 may be slidably fitted in the correspondinghousing portion. In order to cover the opened top portion of eachstorage container 12 or 30, a cover is detachably mounted to the storagecontainer 12 or 30. Where the storage container 12 or 30 is covered by ashelf mounted to a portion of the housing 10, in which the storagecontainer 12 or 30 is fitted, such a cover may be dispensed with.

In the shown double swing door type refrigerator 1 having a large size,freezing and refrigerating compartments thereof are defined in left andright portions of a refrigerator body 10, respectively. Such arefrigerator 1 includes a plurality of shelves 11 mounted in eachcompartment, and a plurality of shelves 22 mounted to each door. Therefrigerator 1 according to the shown embodiment of the presentinvention is of such a double swing door type while having a large size.In FIG. 1, the shelves 11 are mounted in each compartment, and theshelves 22 are mounted to each door 20. However, the shelves 22 providedat the refrigerating compartment may interfere with opening operationsof the storage containers 12 and 30 resulting in storage containers 12and 30 being insufficiently opened unless the refrigerator 1 accordingto an aspect of the present invention further includes interferenceeliminators to eliminate such interference.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating closed states of the storagecontainers 12 and 30 which include such interference eliminators inaccordance with the illustrated embodiment of the present invention. Theupper storage container 12 is fitted in the housing 10 such that theupper storage container 12 is slidable along rails (not shown)respectively provided at opposite side walls of the housing 10. Thelower storage container 30 (hereinafter “the storage container 30”) isfitted in the housing 10 beneath the upper storage container 12 in amanner similar to that of the upper storage container 12. In order toprevent vegetables or fruits stored therein from being dried, thestorage container 30 is provided with a cover 31. The cover 31 isslidably arranged on the top of a box-shaped container body 33 includedin the storage container 30. In order to guide the sliding movement ofthe cover 31, a guide member 32 is also mounted to the housing 10. Theguide member 32 is slidably fitted in a groove 32 a formed at the cover31.

The cover 31 has a length which is smaller than a length of the storagecontainer 30. Accordingly, the cover 31 partially covers the top of thestorage container 30 such that the cover 31 covers a front portion ofthe top of the storage container 30 without also covering a rear portionof the top of the storage container 30 in the closed state of thestorage container 30. The cover 31 has such a length so as to provide aspace to allow the cover 31 to move rearwardly along the storagecontainer 30.

A first rack gear 31 a is provided at a lower end of the cover 31contacting an upper end of the container body 33. A second rack gear 33a is also provided at the upper end of the container body 33. A pinion34 is rotatably mounted to the refrigerator body 10 between the lowerend of the cover 31 and the upper end of the container body 33 such thatthe pinion 34 is engaged with both the first rack gear 31 a of the cover31 and the rack gear 33 a of the container body 33. The second rack gear33 a provided at the container body 33 extends rearwardly fromsubstantially the middle portion of the container body 33 by a desiredlength along the upper end of the container body 33 such that a frontend thereof is engaged with the pinion 34 in a closed state of thecontainer body 33. On the other hand, the second rack gear 31 a providedat the cover 31 extends forwardly from a position, corresponding to thesubstantially middle portion of the container body 33 in the closedstate of the container body 33, by a desired length along the lower endof the cover 31 such that a rear end thereof is engaged with the pinion34 in the closed state of the container body 33. In the closed state ofthe container body 33, accordingly, the first and second rack gears 31 aand 33 a are not overlapped with each other, except for ends thereofwhich engage with the pinion 34.

The pinion 34 is rotatably mounted on a shaft (not shown) fixedlymounted to the refrigerator body 10. The pinion 34 is rotated inaccordance with a forward or rearward movement of the second rack gear33 a of the container body 33 to cause the first rack gear 31 a of thecover 31 to be moved in a direction opposite to the movement directionof the second rack gear 33 a, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. For example,when the user draws the storage container 30 forward from an initialposition in which the storage container 30 is in the closed state asshown in FIG. 2, the first rack gear 31 a is moved in a directionindicated by the arrow in FIG. 3 and the second rack gear 33 a is movedin a direction which is opposite to the direction of the area in FIG. 3.As a result, the pinion 34 is rotated in a clockwise direction, therebycausing the first rack gear 31 a of the cover 31 to be moved in adirection opposite to the movement direction of the second rack gear 33a. Accordingly, the cover 31 is rearwardly moved into the interior ofthe refrigerator body 10, as shown in FIG. 3.

In order to provide a space to occupy the pinion 34, a first elongatedgroove 36 is formed at a lower end portion of the cover 31 correspondingin location to a location of the first rack gear 31 a. The first rackgear 31 a is formed at a surface of the first elongated groove 36. Thefirst elongated groove 36 has, at front and rear ends thereof, curvedsurfaces 36 a serving as stoppers coming into contact with the pinion 34in a rearwardly or forwardly moved state of the cover 31 to prevent thefirst rack gear 31 a from being disengaged from the pinion 34 due to afurther rotation of the pinion 34.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the opened state of the storagecontainer according to the illustrated embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 3 shows that the upper storage container 12 is arrangedover the storage container 30, and the cover 31 is in a state of beingmoved rearward in accordance with a rearward movement of the rack gear31 and a guiding operation of the guide member 32 carried out when thestorage container 33 is drawn forward to be opened.

In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, a secondelongated groove 37 is also formed at an upper end portion of thecontainer body 33 corresponding to the rack gear 33 a, in order toprovide the space to occupy the pinion 34 in cooperation with theelongated groove formed at the cover 31.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a closed state of a storagecontainer according to another embodiment of the present invention. Inaccordance with this embodiment of the present invention, the storagecontainer 30′ includes a rectangular box-shaped container body 33′, anda humidity control member 35 arranged to cover a portion of a top of thecontainer body 33′. The humidity control member 35 does not cover afront of the top of the container body 33′.

In order to cover the opened front top portion of the container body33′, the storage container 30′ also includes a cover 31′. In accordancewith this embodiment, a guide member to guide movement of the cover 31′is not required, in contrast with the need for the guide member 32 ofthe above described embodiment in FIG. 2. The humidity control member35, which covers the top portion of the container body 33′ not coveredby the cover 31′, serves to control the humidity of the interior of thestorage container 30′.

In order to move the cover 31′ in accordance with movement of thestorage container 30′, first and second rack gears 31′a and 33′a, and apinion 34′ are provided. The first rack gear 31′a is separably connectedto the cover 31′ by way of a first connecting member 31′b while beingslidably supported by an upper surface of the humidity control member35. The second rack gear 33′a is separably connected to a rear end ofthe container body 33′ by means of a connecting member 33′b extendingvertically through the humidity control member 35. The second rack gear33′a is also slidably supported by the upper surface of the humiditycontrol member 35. Each of the first and second connecting members 31′band 33′b has a vertical pin structure so that the associated first andsecond rack gears 31′a or 33′a may be separated from the associatedcover 31′ or container body 33′, respectively, by a simple verticalmovement thereof, while being prevented from being separated from theassociated cover 31′ or container body 33′, respectively, by ahorizontal movement thereof.

The humidity control member 35 is fixedly mounted to a desired portionof the housing 10. In order to prevent the humidity control member 35from interfering with the second connecting member 33′b, and thus, toallow the container body 33′ to move forwardly, an elongated slot 35 ais formed at the humidity control member 35 to extend in a longitudinaldirection of the humidity control member 35. The second connectingmember 33′b is received in the slot 35 a such that the second connectingmember 33′b is movable along the slot 35 a. The pinion 34′ is rotatablymounted on the upper surface of the humidity control member 35 betweenthe first and second rack gears 31′a and 33′a while being engaged withthe first and second rack gears 31′a and 33′a.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an opened state of the storagecontainer according to the embodiment of FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5, thehumidity control member 35 is arranged on the top of the container body33′. It can also be seen that the second rack gear 33′a connected to thecontainer body 33′, is laid on the humidity control member 35, and thefirst rack gear 31′a is connected to a lower surface of the cover 31′while being laid on the humidity control member 35 elongated.

The slot 35 a extends longitudinally from a rear end of the humiditycontrol member 35 toward a front end of the humidity control member by adesired length. The slot 35 a allows the second connecting member 33 b′to move therein, to allow the container body 33′ to move forward orrearward. Guide members 35 b, not to be confused with guide member 32,are attached to the upper surface of the humidity control member 35outside the rack gears 31′a and 33′a, respectively. The guide members 35b guide the first and second rack gears 31′a and 33′a during movementsof the first and second rack gears 31′a and 33′a so that the first andsecond rack gears 31′a and 33′a move without being laterally joggled.

Although a rack-and-pinion mechanism including the rack gears 31 a, 33a, 31′a, and 33′a, and the pinions 34′ are shown, and the first andsecond rack gears 31 a, 33 a, 31′a, and 33′a are connected to the cover31, and 31′ and container body 33, and 33′ by way of the first andsecond connecting members 31 b, 33 b, 31′b, and 33′b each having a pinstructure, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that othermembers may be used within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it isunderstood that other mechanisms (such as hydraulic, elastic, pulleysystems) can be used to create similar relative movement between thecover and the storage container body.

Now, respective operations of the refrigerator 1 equipped with thestorage containers 12, 30 according to the above described embodimentsof the present invention will be described in detail.

In the case of a conventional refrigerator equipped with a storagecontainer having a large size, as described above, there is a problem inthat the storage container may be incompletely opened even in acompletely opened sate of a door of the refrigerator because the door ofthe refrigerator interferes with the opening operation thereof. For thisreason, it is impossible to put food having a large size into thestorage container through an access opening provided at the storagecontainer because the access opening of the storage container is narrow.Typically, the opening operation of the storage container is carried outas the user draws the storage container forward from a front end of therefrigerator.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate opened and closed states of the storagecontainer according to one first embodiment of the present invention,respectively. The operation of the storage container 30 according tothis embodiment will now be described.

The storage container 30 is arranged beneath the upper storage container12. Although the storage container 30 is laid on a bottom surface of thehousing 10 in the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, thestorage container 30 may be installed at other portions of the housing10. For instance, if the storage container 30 was installed below ashelf 11, the shelf 11 could be movable or have a movable cover portion.Further, the storage container 30 could be installed on a door 20 asneeded. The storage container 30 can be drawn forward by a predeterminedlength beyond the upper storage container 12, so that the storagecontainer 30 may be opened from the closed state thereof shown in FIG.2.

When the user draws the storage container 30 forward out of the housing10, the container body 33 of the storage container 30, as shown in FIG.3, is moved forward, along with the second rack gear 33 a, whilerotating the pinion 34 engaged with the second rack gear 33 a in aclockwise direction in FIG. 3. In accordance with the rotation of thepinion 34, the first rack gear 31 a engaged with the pinion 34 is movedrearward, so that the cover 31 is rearwardly moved into the housing 10by a length corresponding to the length the first rack gear 31 a ismoved.

At this time, the guide member 32 slidably fitted in the groove of thecover 31 guides the movement of the cover 31. The guide member 32 mayalso prevent the cover 31 from moving into the housing 10 beyond apredetermined length. Of course, the curved surfaces provided at thefront and rear ends of the elongated groove of the cover 31 serve asstoppers ensuring that the cover 31 may move forward and rearward withina given movement length. However, it is understood that such stoppersare not always required, such as to allow removal of the container 33for cleaning, and that additional guides can be used to regulatemovement.

Thus, when the user draws the storage container 30 forward, thecontainer body 33 moves forward and the cover 31 is moved rearward intothe housing 10 by a length that corresponds to the length the containerbody 33 is moved forward within a movement length range determined bythe length of the first and second rack gear 31 a or 33 a. Accordingly,there is an effect that the opened degree of the access opening of thecontainer body 33 is doubled. There is also an advantage in that such aneffect is achieved in accordance with an operation of simply opening thecontainer body 33 without using an additional driving device. However,it is understood that a 1:1 forward-rearward ratio need not always beused, and that other ratios may be desired. It is further understoodthat driving devices, both manual and mechanical, can be additionallyused to facilitate the opening/closing process.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate opened and closed states of the storagecontainer 30′ according to the another embodiment of the presentinvention, respectively. The operation of the storage container 30′according to this embodiment will now be described. Similar to theembodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cover 31′ is moved rearward intothe housing 10 in accordance with operations of the first and secondrack gears 31′a and 33′a, and pinion 34′ carried out as the user drawsthe container body 33′ forward. In this case, the humidity controlmember 35 mounted to the housing 10 is configured to allow the movementof the container body 33′. However, where no humidity control member 35is to be used, it is understood that the gear 33′a can be attached atthe container body 33′.

Since the second rack gear 33′a is connected to the container body 33′using of the connecting member 33′b, the second rack gear 33 a is movedforward out of the housing 10 in a state of being engaged with thepinion 34′ when the user forwardly draws the container body 33′. At thistime, the pinion 34′ is rotated. As a result, the first rack gear 31′aengaged with the pinion 34′ is moved rearward into the housing 10because the pinion 34′ is rotatably mounted to the fixed humiditycontrol member 35.

As is apparent from the above description, the refrigerator according toan aspect of the present invention includes the storage container inwhich the cover adapted to cover the container body is rearwardly movedwhen the container body is drawn forward to be opened, so that theopened degree of the storage container is increased. Accordingly,placing food, having a large size into the storage container andremoving food stored in a rear inner portion of the storage container ispossible, thereby securing the utility of the large-size storagecontainer while providing an improved convenience in use to the user.

While described in terms of refrigerators, it is understood that such asystem could be used in other types of storage containers, such as incoolers, food bins in a pantry, clothing drawers, file cabinets,computers and disc drives, or in any device where access to hold itemsis required and space is restricted.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A refrigerator including a storage container, the storage containercomprising: a container body; a cover, slidably at on the containerbody, to partially cover a top of the container body; rack gearsrespectively provided at the cover and the container body; and a pinion,engaged between the rack gears, to rotate in accordance with a movementof the rack gear provided at the container body in a first direction tomove the rack gear provided at the cover in a second direction oppositeto the first direction to move the cover in the second direction whenthe container body is moved in the first direction to be opened toincrease an opened degree of the container body when the storagecontainer is opened.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, whereinthe pinion is rotatably mounted to a fixed shaft.
 3. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 1, further comprising: a groove provided along a longaxis of the cover; and a guide member, slidably fitted in the groove, toguide the movement of the cover.
 4. A refrigerator including a storagecontainer, further comprising: a container body; a cover, slidably atthe container body, to cover a front top portion of the container body;a humidity control member fixedly mounted to cover at least a topportion of the container body not covered by the cover; and a movingunit to move the cover in response to a movement of the container bodyin a first direction, in a second direction opposite to the firstdirection, whereby the cover is moved into the refrigerator when thecontainer body is moved to extend out of the refrigerator to be openedto increase an opened degree of the container body.
 5. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 4, wherein the moving unit the cover comprises: rackgears respectively connected to the cover and the container body whilebeing slidably supported by the humidity control member; and a pinion,engaged between the rack gears, to rotate in accordance with a movementof the rack gear connected to the container body to move the rack gearconnected to the cover in the second direction opposite to the firstdirection of the rack gear connected to the container body.
 6. Therefrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the pinion is rotatablymounted to the humidity control member.
 7. The refrigerator according toclaim 5, wherein: the rack gear mounted to the container body isseparably mounted to a rear end of the container body by a connectingmember extending vertically through the humidity control member; and thehumidity control member includes a slot to receive the connecting memberto allow the connecting member to move therealong during the movement ofthe container body.
 8. A refrigerator including a storage containerhaving a container body, the storage container comprising: a cover,slidably disposed at the container body, to at least partially cover theopening of the container body; first and second rack gears respectivelyprovided at the cover and the container body; and a pinion, coupled withthe first and second rack gears, to rotate in accordance with a movementof the second rack gear, to cause the first rack gear to move in adirection opposite to the direction of the movement of the second rackgear to move the cover rearward when the container body is movedforward.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, further comprising: agroove along a length of the cover in a direction that corresponds withthe sliding direction of the cover; and a guide member to cooperate withthe groove to guide the sliding of the cover.
 10. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 8, wherein the cover has a length which is shorterthan that of the storage container and covers only a front portion ofthe opening of the storage container when the storage container isclosed.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein a front endof the first rack gear engages the pinion when the storage container isclosed and a remaining portion of the first rack gear extends rearwardlyfrom substantially the middle portion of the container body.
 12. Therefrigerator according to claim 8, wherein a rear end of the second rackgear engages the pinion when the storage container is closed and aremaining portion of the second rack gear extends forwardly fromsubstantially the middle portion of the container body.
 13. Therefrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the pinion is rotatablymounted on a shaft which is fixedly mounted to the refrigerator.
 14. Therefrigerator according to claim 8, wherein, when a user draws thestorage container forward from a closes position, the second rack gearis moved in accordance with the storage container to cause the pinion torotate to cause the first rack gear to move in a direction which isopposite to the direction the storage container is moved.
 15. Therefrigerator according to claim 8, further comprising a first elongatedgroove in the cover, having curved surfaces at ends thereof, in whichthe first rack gear is located, the curved surfaces serving as stopperswhen the curved surfaces contact with the pinion during operation of thestorage container.
 16. The refrigerator according to claim 15, whereinthe curved surfaces prevent the first rack gear from disengaging fromthe pinion.
 17. The refrigerator according to claim 8, furthercomprising a second elongated groove in the container body, in which thesecond rack gear is located.
 18. The refrigerator according to claim 8further comprising a humidity control member to at least partially coverthe opening of the container body not covered by the cover and tocontrol a level of humidity in the storage container.
 19. Therefrigerator according to claim 18, further comprising: a firstconnecting member to connect the first rack gear to the cover; a secondconnecting member, extending through the humidity control member, toconnect the second rack gear to the container body.
 20. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 19, wherein the first and second connecting memberscomprise vertical pin structures, respectively.
 21. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 19, wherein the humidity control member is fixedlycombined with the storage container and comprises an elongated slot toreceive the second connecting member such that the second connectingmember is movable in the slot.
 22. The refrigerator according to claim21, wherein the elongated slot extends longitudinally from a rear end ofthe humidity control member toward a front end of the humidity controlmember by a length.
 23. The refrigerator according to claim 22, whereinthe humidity control member further comprises guiding members attachedto an upper surface of the humidity control member to guide the firstand second rack gears during movements of the first and second rackgears.
 24. A reverse movement mechanism for use in a refrigeratorincluding a storage container having a container body and a cover,slidably laid on the container body, to partially cover the top of thecontainer body, the mechanism comprising: first and second rack gearsrespectively provided at the cover and the container body; and a pinion,coupled with the first and second rack gears, to rotate in accordancewith a movement of the second rack gear, to cause the first rack gear tomove in a direction opposite to a direction of the movement of thesecond rack gear to move the cover rearward when the container body ismoved forward.
 25. A refrigerator including a storage container having acontainer body with can opening, the storage container comprising: meansfor at least partially covering the opening of the container body; meansfor moving the cover in a first direction when the container body ismoved in a second direction other than the first direction.
 26. Arefrigerator including a storage container having a container body, thestorage container comprising: a cover, slidably disposed at thecontainer body, to at least partially cover the opening of the containerbody; a reverse movement mechanism that, in response to a firstdirection, moves the cover relative to the opening in a seconddirection.
 27. The refrigerator according to claim 26, wherein thereverse movement mechanism comprises first and second rack gearsrespectively provided at the cover and the container body.
 28. Therefrigerator according to claim 27, wherein the reverse movementmechanism further comprises a pinion, coupled with the first and secondrack gears, to rotate in accordance with a movement of the second rackgear, to cause the first rack gear to move in a direction opposite tothe direction of the movement of the second rack gear to move the coverrearward when the container body is moved forward.
 29. A storagecontainer comprising: a container body having an opening; a cover,slidably disposed at the container body, to at least partially cover theopening of the container body; and a reverse movement mechanism that, inresponse to movement of the container body in a first direction, movesthe cover relative to the opening in a second direction.
 30. The storagecontainer according to claim 29, wherein the reverse movement mechanismcomprises first and second rack gears respectively provided at the coverand the container body.
 31. The storage container according to claim 30,wherein the reverse movement mechanism further comprises a pinion,coupled with the first and second rack gears, to rotate in accordancewith a movement of the second rack gear, to cause the first rack gear tomove in a direction opposite to the direction of the movement of thesecond rack gear to move the cover rearward when the container body ismoved forward.